This is a piece that I wrote with Gerry Shih in Beijing about Microsoft’s challenges in emerging markets beyond the recent raids. ‘Naked PCs’ lay bare Microsoft’s emerging markets problem BY JEREMY WAGSTAFF AND GERRY SHIH Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:42pm EDT (Reuters) – On a trip to Beijing a decade ago, Bill Gates was … Read more
Turns out it is possible to make money from having your products pirated. You put them out there yourself, and then sue anyone who takes them. This is what, allegedly, is happening between a U.S. pornographer, a German anti-piracy organisation, and a firm of UK lawyers. Here’s how the scam—allegedly—works. The pornographer cuts a deal … Read more
I’ve been mulling the issue of registering and activating software of late, and while I feel users generally are less averse to the process of having to enter a serial number or activating a program before they can use it than before, I think there’s still a lot of frustration out there. And I know … Read more
One can only imagine Bill Gates’ discomfort: Standing silently as the Romanian president told the world that pirated Microsoft software helped his country become what it is: Pirated Microsoft Corp software helped Romania to build a vibrant technology industry, Romanian President Traian Basescu told the company’s co-founder Bill Gates on Thursday. “Piracy,” Reuters quoted him … Read more
In my town piracy, I suspect, is the norm. But in an effort to to see whether that’s true, and how that compares to other places, I’ve launched a survey, which I hope you, dear reader, will take a few minutes to complete. It’s entirely anonymous, I’m not connected to the industry, and I have … Read more